Creative city commuting – so what about jogging?

Being ecological in a car-dominated city-culture (like Calgary) calls for perseverance and creativity. Where commuting is concerned I’m always looking to combine eco-friendly travel with a good workout and/or a comfy bus-ride tucked in with a good book. Mixing up the readily available options is the name of the game – will it be bike-train combo or a walk-bus mixture? Yesterday, for the first time, I came up with a new recipe: a jog-train concoction.

yak-tracks on hiking boots

My first thought as I started on my 5km jog to Fish Creek c-train station…wow, it’s tough jogging with a heavy backpack on! With my pack full of the same gear that I take when I’m cycling to work (a change of clothes, lunch, deodorant, wallet etc.) and strapped tight to my back and my yak-tracks on tightly around my running shoes I felt like some kind of soldier or x-country long-distance runner. I envisioned pacing myself for hundreds upon hundreds of kilometeres of drudging through rough terrain while enduring the winter wrath of mother nature. It felt quite epic.

On the flip side, I really could have timed my breakfast better, as it isn’t too comfortable to bounce along like that with a full stomach. More time between eating and running, or waiting until after running all together, is what I would do better next time.

Otherwise, it was an excellent and invigorating commute. I had the park paths mainly to myself; thankfully it wasn’t too cold, and I was grateful to gulp down huge breaths of fresh air before spending an inevitable 8 hours inside at work.

I would say my least favourite part, as compared to commuter cycling, was taking the train after the jog. With cycling you get to your destination and can shower and/or change almost immediately whereas with my jog-train combo I ended up enduring about 25 sitting minutes of hot and sweaty work-out clothes…blargh…

So this first-time experiment had its ups and downs, but I’m very happy I gave this alternative a try! I feel that, just like with commuter cycling, it would also get easier and more efficient over time as running endurance would improve with repetition. Over all, I think it could make a good alternative to cycling in the winter :)